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After many (and many more) hours of effort by numerous volunteers, it is now ready and available for viewing. Joshua Humphreys is acknowledged as the principal designer of the original six American frigates. His son, Samuel, was Chief Naval constructor from 1826 until his death in 1846.
The Notebook represents essentially an Aide-mémoire or ready reference on a wide variety of information related to ships and shipbuilding. It opens with the hand copied British Establishment of 1719, and also includes the 1745 establishment, dimensions of many vessels from several nations, and notations on ships wheels, various capstans and much more. It runs chronologically from the first entry (not dated) - some entries provide clues as to the date (such as a notation "captured by the British in 1813) but that also is sporadic. For example, there is an entry for "Dimensions of spars of US Frigate President" followed by "Dimensions of Spars of US Frigate Constitution", however they follow entries for the "Dimension of Brig US Nautilus captured by The British in 1812" and "Rules for masting Frigates 1809", and are followed by "Dimensions of Ship Madison Corvette, Built-Launched at Sacketts Harbour on the Lakes November 1812" and an entry titled "Sept 1814 A Better Rule".
Overall, there is a great deal of information of various detail provided which can aid in understanding the basis for some of the ship design philosophies of Joshua and Samuel. Please note that spellings have been retained as they appear in the source document for the most part, so there may be multiple spellings of the same word. Emendation has generally been restricted to converting the thorn (looks like a y as in ye ) to the appropriate word (such as "the" for ye ), and spelling out certain abbreviations.
It can be downloaded from the Modelshipbuilder website at the bottom of the resources page here:
http://modelshipbuilder.com/page.php?24
We hope that this is a useful reference work for you, and have plans to add to the body of knowledge as we continue transcription of other documents related to the early Navy.
The Notebook represents essentially an Aide-mémoire or ready reference on a wide variety of information related to ships and shipbuilding. It opens with the hand copied British Establishment of 1719, and also includes the 1745 establishment, dimensions of many vessels from several nations, and notations on ships wheels, various capstans and much more. It runs chronologically from the first entry (not dated) - some entries provide clues as to the date (such as a notation "captured by the British in 1813) but that also is sporadic. For example, there is an entry for "Dimensions of spars of US Frigate President" followed by "Dimensions of Spars of US Frigate Constitution", however they follow entries for the "Dimension of Brig US Nautilus captured by The British in 1812" and "Rules for masting Frigates 1809", and are followed by "Dimensions of Ship Madison Corvette, Built-Launched at Sacketts Harbour on the Lakes November 1812" and an entry titled "Sept 1814 A Better Rule".
Overall, there is a great deal of information of various detail provided which can aid in understanding the basis for some of the ship design philosophies of Joshua and Samuel. Please note that spellings have been retained as they appear in the source document for the most part, so there may be multiple spellings of the same word. Emendation has generally been restricted to converting the thorn (looks like a y as in ye ) to the appropriate word (such as "the" for ye ), and spelling out certain abbreviations.
It can be downloaded from the Modelshipbuilder website at the bottom of the resources page here:
http://modelshipbuilder.com/page.php?24
We hope that this is a useful reference work for you, and have plans to add to the body of knowledge as we continue transcription of other documents related to the early Navy.